Internal perspectives on place marketing : A study on the role of place marketing in relationships between residents and municipality

Marketing of cities and places is in many ways common to marketing of products and services. The difference is that places are more multidimensional than products, which makes the marketing of them more complex. In marketing of places factors like cultural heritage, traditions and local stakeholders need to be kept in mind. This study examines how residents perceive the place marketing of their municipality. The study focuses on resident’s trust in the municipality and how this may be affected by various types of marketing from the municipality or municipal companies. To create understanding to this, one municipality was chosen as case study and 7 residents were interviewed. During the interviews, chosen parts of the municipalitys latest years’ marketing was shown. The respondent then were asked to describe his or hers perception of the marketing and how this might affect the perception of the municipality and the trust to it. The material from the interviews was transcribed and interpreted by models of how trust and confidence is built up or broken down. Four main themes of how place marketing affects residents’ trust was identified: Transparency, truth, consequence and benevolence. Transparence means the municipality’s openness and tendency to show uncensored representation. Truth is about to which extend the messages seems to be truthful. Consequence means how well reality matches the communicated message, and to which extent promises and expectations are fulfilled. Benevolence stands for the intention behind the message and the aim and purpose of it. The study shows examples of how the municipality’s marketing are able to affect all four factors in both positive and negative direction. Trust is an important factor in the community and a prerequisite for all kinds of interactions between people, organizations or institutions. This study provides understanding to the role of place marketing in trust between residents and their municipality